ABSTRACT
The ascendance of Donald Trump to the American presidency is the latest instalment of the rise of the reactionary right in the United States. Two of the most troubling consequences of the re-emergence of the reactionary right are an increasing polarization of American politics, and post-factualism. In this work, we show why the ‘new’ right is not really new at all, why status politics, rather than economic anxiety, helps explain why Mr Trump won, and how this is reflected in American politics. This paper aims to better chronicle how Donald Trump rose to power, and why many existing explanations – especially economic ones – are dubious.
